Rebel, if AI hype has you feeling like you’re already behind, Kerry Harrison has news: most marketers haven’t even started. The move isn’t mastering every tool, it’s starting with one.
About Kerry Harrison
Kerry is an AI trainer, consultant and speaker helping businesses augment their skills with artificial intelligence, and Chair of the AI Council at the Data and Marketing Association.
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Start With One Tool, One Task
You don’t need an AI strategy for your entire business on day one. Pick one repetitive task and test a single tool against it.
“Start with one thing, one tool, one task that you’d like AI to help you with and go from there. Before you know it you’re using it on a much wider basis.”
Kerry Harrison
- Choose one weekly task (drafting posts, summarising research) and try one AI tool on just that piece
- Document what worked, what didn’t, and what surprised you
- Resist the pressure to overhaul your whole workflow at once
Use The “AI Sandwich”: Human, AI, Human
The best AI-assisted work follows a three-part process: your insight first, AI’s help in the middle, then your judgment again at the end.
- Start every AI-assisted piece with your own context and insight, not a blank prompt
- Let AI handle the drafting or heavy lifting once you’ve set the direction
- Always close the loop yourself: fact-check, edit, and make sure it still sounds like you
Protect Your Time As Fiercely As Your Skills
The AI takeover keeps moving. We covered what it means for paid social specifically in our episode on AI’s quiet takeover of paid social.
Kerry’s costliest lesson wasn’t a missed deadline, it was lost time with family from never switching off. Upskilling matters, but not at the cost of your life outside work.
- Audit last week’s calendar: which tasks actually moved things forward, which just drained you
- Set one concrete boundary this week (no weekend work, a protected evening) and hold it
- Treat critical thinking and creativity as skills worth protecting, they’re what AI can’t replace